The Cumans were a people of Turkish origin, who came from Asia around the middle of the 11th century and started replacing little by little their ethnically kindred people, the Pechenegs, on the steppes of the Eastern Europe. In the late 11th century they were plundering Byzantine territories, though in the battle at Lebounion in 1091 they helped the emperor Alexios I Komnenos to defeat the Pechenegs. Their attacks against the Byzantine Empire continued up until 1160. Part of the Cumans settled in Byzantine territories, converted to Christianity, received land estates and served in the imperial army.